Tuesday, Sept. 22 brought an undeniably inspiring and informative event to the University of Hartford.
Shawn Simons and Alvaro Llanos, two survivors of one of the most fatal dorm fires ever to occur, came to campus to speak about their experiences and show the documentary that described their journey to recovery after the injuries they sustained, appropriately titled, “After the Fire: A True Story of Heroes & Cowards.”
The event began in Lincoln Theater with introductions from the speakers, then proceeded by the showing of the documentary, ending with a Q&A session where general and heavy-weighted questions were answered.
The documentary explained that on Jan. 19, 2000, at around 4:30 a.m., a deadly fire began spreading in Boland Hall, a freshmen residence hall at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey.
This fire ended up injuring over 58 victims and killing three more. After extensive investigation, in 2007 Joseph LePore and Sean Ryan, two freshman students at the time, were finally charged on a 60-count indictment that included felony murder and starting the fire, and sentenced to five years behind bars.
Speakers Simons and Llanos survived some of the most brutal injuries from the fire, sustaining burns on 16 percent and 56 percent of their bodies, respectively. They now dedicate much of their time to speaking to students about the importance of fire safety.
Both men explained that although so many young adults believe that unfortunate events such as this can never happen to them, it does, with Simons saying, “To be 18 years old, probably like many of you in this room, to feel like we were invincible, that nothing’s ever gonna happen to us, to open up that door, to see that cloud of smoke, to feel the intensity of that heat as we tried to escape out of that building, was one of the most scariest things that we’d ever been through in our life.”
Llanos, in particular, endured lasting scarring that will forever plague him, but he made a point of describing his emotional reaction to feeling so different after his injuries.
“I had to learn to love my scars, and we all need to learn to love ourselves a little bit more because our scars don’t define who we are, our heart and everything we overcome defines who we are,” he said.
And the most important piece of advice?
Regarding fire safety, Simons said, “So it’s important, every time you hear an alarm go off, no matter how many times it goes off, to go outside, to evacuate. I don’t care if it goes off four or five — I don’t care if it goes off 10 times over the course of the night, I would rather you be inconvenienced and safe outside the building 10 times than that one time you say ‘you know what, I’m not gonna go out, it’s probably, you know, somebody playing around,’ and then next thing you know you’re trapped, suffering from smoke inhalation or even worse.”
For more information, you can visit their website at alvaroandshawn.com.